


The Beast And Her Rose

by evileye121



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:42:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22173499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evileye121/pseuds/evileye121
Summary: Blake Belladonna has spent the majority of her life fighting for the White Fang, working towards the day humanity would treat her people as equals. Unfortunately, the White Fang is no longer the once noble organization and seems more intent on getting revenge on humankind for what they did to the Faunus. One day when on a routine mission to disrupt the Schnee dust company's abuse of her people, Blake is injured and saved by a human that will not only help her leave the terrorist organization but also help her heal and deal with her demons.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 6





	1. The Meeting

In A cabin on the outskirts of the city of Vale, the cat Faunus Balke Belladonna awoke with a start fro unconsciousness and shot up into a sitting position. The young Faunus soon regretted her decision when a sharp and intense pain tore through her body, forcing her to lay back down and curl into a ball. Once the pain subsided, the cat Faunus slowly got back up into a sitting position and looked around to get her barrings and notice that she was in a dimly lit room, only illuminated by a single fireplace. Looking around the room, Blake noticed that it was incredibly spartan. Besides the fireplace and the bed she was sitting on, there was an old and beat up armchair in the other corner of the room with a plain-looking side table. _Whoever Lives here certainly isn't into luxury,_ Blake thought to herself.

"Finally awake, I see." A voice coming from her side said, drawing the Faunus' attention to the now opened door. Standing in the doorway was a boy about the same age as herself. Without even thinking, Blake reached over her shoulder for Gambol Shroud, only to realize too late that it wasn't there. "Missing something?" The boy asked with a chuckle as he closed the door. Ignoring the glare he was receiving from Blake, the boy crossed the room to the chair in the corner. Instead of sitting down, he reached behind the piece of furniture and pulled out Gambol shroud. "Never would have thought the White Fang would have someone as cute as you in their ranks," the boy said absentmindedly, catching the Faunus off guard and making her blush for a moment before she remembered what he just said.

"I don't know what you-" Blake was cut off what the human also pulled out her Grimm mask and the bow she used to hide her ears. On instinct, she reached up and touched her cat ears, and they definitely weren't hidden under her bow. Annoyed, the cat Faunus glared at the human, her cat ears folding back as well, which only served to make the human laugh.

'"There's no need to get angry," the boy said before tossing the weapon to the cat Faunus. Grabbing it out of mid-ait, Blake quickly inspected Gabol shroud, and when she found nothing out of place, she let out a satisfied sigh. Afterword, an awkward silence fell over the room as neither of the occupants knew what to say to each other. Taking the time, Blake inspected her saviour/ captor, and the first thing that stuck out to her was his silver eyes. Just the colour of them would be enough to draw attention, but the look of hopelessness and despair that was on the boy's face made him seem a lot older than he was. Even his clothes seemed to match the tone his eyes conveyed as he wore a pair of dishevelled jeaned and a black hoodie with red trim, all topped off with a mop of unkempt, dirty blond hair.

"So, what now? Are you going to turn me over to the police?" Blake asked to break the silence, and much to her surprise, the boy shook his head.

"No, no, I'm not. I don't see much reason to as I don't think you'll be White Fang that much longer." The cat Faunus was about to ask him how he could know that when he cut her off. "Before you start asking how I know, you were mumbling in your sleep about how the Fang has changed, and that you don't think it's methods will work." The sudden ear-piercing screech of steam escaping from a kettle interrupting the conversation. Standing up, the boy took the kettle off of the rack and poured its contents into a cup before handing it over to the Injured Faunus. Hesitantly taking the drink, Blake looked at the cup's contents for a few seconds before biting the bullet and lifting it to her mouth. The second the tea touched her lips, Blake couldn't help but let out a satisfied moan. "The names Raphael by the way," Raphael said with an outstretched hand. Blake opened her mouth to tell him hers when the door to the cabin suddenly blew open, and several White Fang soldiers piled into the room. Once the grunts finished filing in a bull, Faunus with red hair confidently walked in.

"Adam!" Blake yelled as she tried to get out of the bed, but her injuries kept her rooted to the spot. Seeing that his subordinate was safe, Adam pushed past his men and hugged the cat Faunus.

"Blake, I'm so glad you're alright. When no one could find you, I feared the worst." letting go of his subordinate, Adam turned around and faced Raphael, and even though he wore a mask, the human could tell the bull Faunus was glaring at him. Guessing what was about to happen, Blake grabbed Adam's arm, drawing his attention back to her.

"He didn't hurt me. He was the one that treated my injuries, even though he knew I was with the White Fang," Blake said, catching the bull Faunus off guard a little. Letting out a breath, he turned to face the human once again; this time, he held out his hand and smiled slightly.

"Thanks for taking care of my subordinate; I appreciate it immensely." Cautiously, Raphael took hold of the Faunus' hand and shook. "Though you did see her face and know her name, not to mention mine so..." Before he could react appropriately, Adam let go of Raph's hand and drew his blade. Thankfully for the human, he wasn't helpless, and as Adam swung his sword upward, he managed to dodge just enough to prevent the loss of his head; unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save his eye. Screaming in pain, Raph fell to the floor, clutching the now destroyed and bleeding eye socket.

"Adam, what the hell are you doing!?" Balke yelled as she stood up, ignoring the pain of her injuries. "What was that for? He wasn't a threat!" Adam turned to Blake and shook his head.

"Come now, Blake, you should know by now that humans can't be trusted. He would have turned you over to the police once he knew there would be a reward for your capture," Adam stated as he bent down and picked the human up by his hair. "Either that or he would have turned you over to the atlas military for the sheer joy of it, and we all know what they do to White Fang they capture." Without even the slightest hint of hesitation, Adam drew his blade along the underside of Raph's arm, severing it in one clean motion. Unable to believe what she was seeing, Blake fell back onto the bed and stared in horror as the bull Funus did the same to Raph's other arm. All around the room, the other White Fang members were laughing as their leader tortured the human that saved one of their own, and it made Blake sick to her stomach. "Alright, burn the cabin, leave no trace of our presence here, then return to base!" Adam yelled to the grunts, who all salted before getting to work. Unable to move, Blake sat on the bed and stared at the quivering mess that was the human who rescued her. She was so out of it that the cat Faunus didn't even recognize that Adam had picked her up and carried her out of the cabin until it was set ablaze. Once she realized what had happened, she demanded Adam put her down, and the bull Faunus obliged her. As soon as she was firmly on the ground, Blake turned to the cabin; her saviour was dying in.

"I'm sorry," was Blake said before turning her back on the human one last time. 


	2. First Day At School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphael survived his encounter with the White Fang leader, but just barely. Now two years later, he is attending Beacon academy at the request of the headmaster himself. His first day at school will have him reunite with the people of his past, some good, others awkward.

Standing on the observation deck of the Beacon Airship, Rapheal looked out of the window and watched the scenery go by, lost in thought and thinking about what happened two years ago. After the White Fang departed the cabin, Raph thought for sure he was going to die, either from bleeding out or being burned alive by the fire. Thankfully for him, though, it seemed lady luck was on his side as shortly after his uncle deemed it the right time to return to the cabin. Bursting into the room, he found his nephew lying on the floor with his arms and an eye missing along with several burns marks all over his body. Quickly getting an airbus, he rushed Raphael to the hospital and called the rest of the family to let them know what happened.

Given that he was unconscious most of the time, Raph didn't know what happened; thankfully, his family clued him in. They told him that they had to perform surgery and replaced his missing arms with prosthetics. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough lien to replace his eye with cybernetics, so he was stuck with a glass eye, leaving him unable to see out the left side.

Raphael's thoughts were suddenly broken when he realized that someone was trying to get his attention, Turning his head to the left, he saw a male goat Faunus with shoulder-length silver hair with a red streak through it talking to him.

"Yo, Remnant to human, hello you in there?" The goat Faunus asked, waving his hand in front of Raph's face.

"Can I help you?" The human asked the Faunus, who pulled his hand away and smiled.

"Actually, yes, you can. I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes, and I was wondering if I could ask you something?" Turning back to the window, Raph thought it over for a second and seeing nothing wrong with answering a simple question looked back at the goat Faunus and nodded his head. Suddenly the Faunus' face was only inches away from Raph's face with a crazy look in his eye. "What type of weapon do you use? By the scar on your face, I bet you've seen some real combat, and that means you must have something really-" The goat Faunus got cut off when his head was pulled to the side. Looking a little farther to the left, Raphael could see a female deer Faunus with the same silver hair as the goat Faunus, but instead of a red streak, she had pink highlights. She was pulling on the male's ear with a slight scowl.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to accost random strangers all the time?" She asked the goat Faunus, clearly having done this more times than she would have liked. Turning to Raph, the doe gave him an apologetic look and bowed her head. "I'm sorry about my brother's behaviour; he gets a little too excited about weapons and forgets his manners." Looking back at her brother, she grabs the back of his head and forces it down into a bow. "Now apologize to the nice human," She said with a condescending tone.

"I'm sorry," the brother said dejectedly. Witnessing the encounter that reminded him of his own family, Raph couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. Surprised, both Faunus looked at the human-like he was crazy, causing him to laugh harder. After a few moments of laughing, Raph calmed down enough to speak.

"I'm sorry for laughing; it's just that the way you two acted reminded me of my family, your brother especially reminds me of my little sister. Also, it's no problem if he wants to see my weapon." The sister let go of her brother's ear, and he leaned in a little closer, not a much as last time, and he was less pushy about it as well. Unzipping hid hoodie, Raph unclipped the holster holding Aries, hid three barreled shotgun pistol. Raphael held the weapon out for the siblings to inspect, and without missing a beat, the brother took Aries and looked the gun over, all the while rapidly firing off questions at the human.

"What type of ammunition does it fire? Are they dust infused? Do they explode when they impact a target? what's its alt form?" Taking the weapon back from the brother, Raph flipped the pistol open and pulled out a tiny dust vial.

"Yes, the shells are dust infused, but instead of buying the rounds individually, I instead insert this vial between the barrels." Sticking the tiny dust vial into the gun, he snapped it back into place and several small lights the same colour as the dust came to life. Both siblings looked at the weapon and were clearly impressed as one would usually have to buy expensive dust rounds or design their weapon to hold a large amount of dust, limiting the user to one type per engagement. "Now for its alternate form, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you on that account as it doesn't have one," Raph said apologetically.

"Doesn't that just mean you use a secondary weapon? Can we see that once as well?" The brother asked with hope in his voice. Putting Aries back in its holster, Raph was going to tell the goat Faunus no when he saw the look in his face. Unable to take the puppy dog eyes, Raph sighed and bent down to pick up the briefcase at his feet, which the siblings only now realized was there.

Opening the briefcase, Raphael revealed to the Faunus siblings, two silver cylinders, each one having a small silver tube attached to one end, and the tip of a metal spike poking out the other. Removing one of the cylinders from the briefcase, the human handed it to the siblings to inspect. The brother turned the cylinder end over end several times, but no matter how many times he did, he couldn't figure out what it was or what it was supposed to do.

"I don't get it; what is it?" The goat Faunus asked as he looked up at the human with confusion written all over his face, which caused Raph to chuckle.

"It's a pile bunker," He said, pointing at the tip of the weapon. "Steam builds up in the cylinder, and once it reaches the right amount, I pull the trigger that rests in the palm of my hand to drive a metal spike forward with enough force to crack a death stalker's exoskeleton in one shot." After a few moments of letting the siblings inspect the cylinder, Raphael took it back and placed it back into the briefcase. "So, how about showing me yours?" Rapha asked, and both siblings looked at one another before smiling and taking a few steps back from each other. As soon as they were a suitable distance from each other, the two Faunus reached behind their backs and showed off their weapons. On the brother's hand was a war axe with a rather crude looking blade the looked like a novice metalworker created it, and that functionality was the only thing in mind during its creation. The sister, on the other hand, had a beautiful looking spear that seemed to have vine-like lines carved into the weapon, and Raph could tell that she put a lot of her heart and soul into making it look the way it did. Without a word, the siblings nodded to each other and began changing their weapons to their alt forms. The brother removed the blade from his axe, and Raphael watched as it converted into a shotgun (spas-12). Turning to the sister, Raph watched as the front of the spear swung under, shortening the weapon almost by half and exposing the barrel of a rifle. The back of the spear dropped slightly and expanded into a usable stock, exposing the trigger and making the bolt Raph just noticed usably. After the demonstration, Raphael thanked them fro thewing him their weapons, and both beamed with pride.

"Oh, I just realized that we hadn't introduced ourselves yet," the brother suddenly said, and realizing her brother was right, the sister swung her rifle onto her back and bowed, begging the human for his forgiveness. Raising his hands, Raph let her know that he wasn't upset and that given the circumstances of their meeting, it was understandable they hadn't introduced themselves yet. "Well, how about we start over. Hi, I'm Sebastian Mcdougal," Sebastian said as he stuck his hand out to the human. "And this is my sister Ophelia."

"Nice to meet you," Ophelia said with a bow. Looking between the two siblings, Raph smiled and took Sebastian's hand.

"Raphael, Raphael Rose, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Ragh said just as he felt the airship make a sudden stop, signalling their arrival at Beacon.

* * *

Stepping off of the airship, Raphael and the two Mcdougal siblings looked upon the magnificent sight that was Beacon academy. All three of them turned around and looked across the lake towards the city of Vale and whistle at the view.

"I have to admit this is quite amazing; it's almost as glorious as seeing a new weapon for the first time," eliciting a groan from his sister and a chuckle from the human. Suddenly an explosion from somewhere behind drew three back towards the school. "What was that?" Sebastian asked, and all Raoh could do was shrug his shoulders. "Well, let's go check it out," Before either Raph or Ophelia could say anything, Sebastian was already running off towards the explosion.

Quickly catching up with the goat Faunus, Raphael and Ophelia stare at a sizable smoke cloud with two silhouettes waving their arms in front of their faces and coughing. As the smoke cleared, Raph could make out the features of the two girls. On the left was a girl with snow-white hair and a pale complexion, and on the right was a smaller girl with dark brown hair with red tips that he immediately recognized as his younger sister Ruby. Smiling, he walked a little closer to the two girls and listened to their argument.

"Unbelievable! This is precisely what I was talking about!" The white-haired girl said to Ruby.

"I'm really, really sorry," Ruby said in response.

"Ugh, you compete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending beacon?"

"Well, I-I..."

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparing and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters, so... watch where you're going!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess! Ruby shouted, fed up with the other girls stuck up attitude, and the be frank, so was Raph. Taking a step closer, Raphael was about to interject when he heard a familiar voice he didn't expect.

"It's heiress, actually." Looking to the right, Raph could see Blake approach, holding and looking at a dust vial. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust mining company one of the..." Blake trailed off when she looked up from the dust vial and saw the human she reluctantly left for dead two years ago standing off to the side. 'What are you doing here? There's no way you could have survived what he did to you!" The cat Faunus practically screamed at Raph, who, in his shock at seeing Blake here at Beacon, just stood there and stared at her. Wondering what had got the dark-haired girl so upset, Ruby followed her line of sight and let out an excited squee when she saw her older brother before running over and tackling him to the ground into a hug.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Raph, you actually came to Beacon!" Patting his little sister on the head, the elder brother forced himself to stand up after her tackle and returned the hug. "Yeah, the headmaster here made a rather compelling argument for my enrolment here," Raphael said cryptically. Before Ruby could ask what he meant, Sebastian and Ophelia made their presence known.

"So, I assume you two know each other?" Sebastian asked. Separating himself from his sister, Raph placed a hand on her head and smiled.

"Yep, this is my little sister Ruby, Ruby, this is Sebastian and Ophelia Mcdougal." As the three of them started conversing, Raph turned back towards Blake and noticed that she was no longer there, having most likely slipped away when Ruby tackled him to the ground.

Finally, having enough of this circus, Weiss let out an annoyed huff and stormed off towards the school. Noticing this, Ruby yelled out to her that she would make this up to her somehow, but when the heiress didn't say anything, she fell onto her back and groaned.

"So much for making a good impression," She said sadly.

"Well, it could be worse. You could be that guy," Raph said, pointing over at a boy with blond hair staring at them.

* * *

After another set of introductions, Raph and his group learned that the blond boy's name was Jaune Arc and that he wasn't the most confident of people.

"All I'm saying is that Motion sickness is a much more common issue than people think," Jaune desperately pleaded to make himself feel less lame.

"Look, I'm sorry! Vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind," Ruby apologetically said.

"I'm not," Sebastian cruelly stated, earning him smack on the back of the head from Ophelia. Afterword, an awkward silence fell over the group as no one knew how to continue the conversation.

"So, Jaune, what kind of weapon do you use?" Raph asked to break the silence.

"Oh, I uh..." Jaune trails off a little as he unsheathes the blade at his hip. "I got this sword."

"Oooooh!" Both Ruby and Sebastian say at the same time."

"Yeah, and I've got a shield too!" Jaune removed the scabbard from his waist and placing it on his arms, expands it into a shield. Ruby touched the shield and looked up at Jaune.

"What can they do?" She asked, and the blond looks away for a second before collapsing and expanding the shield several more times.

"The shield gets smaller, so whenever I'm tired of carrying it, I can put it away."

"But wouldn't they just weight the same?" Sebastian asked with a sad tone, clearly upset that he wouldn't get to see something cool, which earned him another smack on the back of the head.

"Yeah, they do," Jaune said dejectedly. Laughing, Raph patted Jaune on the shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it; all that matters is that it can kill grim," he said, trying to cheer the blond up. Jaune gave him a small smile, and the five of them started moving again.

After walking around aimlessly for way too long, Raph finally decided that enough was enough and asked one of the older students where the first years needed to go. She kindly pointed out the auditorium, and after thanking her, Raph and the group made their way over and entered the building, looking around, they all tried to find a seat when Raphael heard another familiar voice.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Turning his head to the direction of the voice, Raph saw his and Ruby's half-sister Yang wave over to the group. Without a word, Ruby grabbed his arm and dragged her older brother over to where Yang was.

"Yang, look who I found!" Ruby said as she shoved her brother towards Yang, Standing in front of his half-sister, Raoh awkwardly scratched the back of his head, having not parted on the best of terms the last time he saw her. Before Raph could say anything, Yang stood up, and he prepared himself for the worst, but what came next, he couldn't predict. Lunging forwards, Yang wrapped her arms around her half-brother in a back-breaking hug.

"Oh, Raph, I'm so sorry for what I said the last time I saw you. I was so mad, and I..." Yang trailed off, not knowing what to say. Finding it hard to breathe, Raph started to pound on Yang's back.

"Yang can- can't breathe." Hearing her half-brother's plea, Yang let go of him, and he desperately sucks in air. "Honestly, trying to apologize while strangling me? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to kill me," Raph said, flashing his half-sister a Cheshire grin. Knowing that he wasn't serious, Yang punched him in the arm.

"So, your not mad at me?" She nervously asked, and to prove to her that he wasn't, Rph returned the hug.

"No, I'm not mad, Yang. I'm just glad you aren't going to punch a hole in my head." After their little heart to heat, Yang let go of her half-brother and looked at Ruby.

"So how has your first day been going, sis?" At being reminded of what happened, Ruby crossed her arms and sat down with a huff.

"You mean, after you ditched me, and I exploded!"

"Yikes, meltdown already?"

"No, she actually exploded; there was a bang and everything, Raph said in a deadpan tone. Looking back and forth between her two half-siblings Yang couldn't tell if they were being serious or not.

"I tripped over crabby girl's luggage, and then she started yelling at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she started, yelling at me some more, and then I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!" Out of the corner of his eye, Raph could see the Schnee heiress approach him and his sisters.

"You!" Weiss yelled, startling Ruby, who jumped into Yang's arms.

"Oh, god, It's happening again," the younger sister states, fear in her voice.

"Your lucky you weren't blown off of the cliff!" Weiss angrily states.

"Oh my god, you really did explode," Yang says in a deadpan tone.

"Told you," Raph says as he leans in closer to Yang, so Weiss doesn't hear him. Ruby climbs out of Yang's arms, saying that it was an accident, and all Weiss does is shove a pamphlet in her face. As the heiress starts to go off on Ruby about how dangerous dust is, Raphael, spots Blake on the other side of the amphitheatre staring at him. It was hard for him to make out her expression, but from her reaction to his non0deceased status earlier, the elder rose was able to make a pretty good guess she was feeling guilty about leaving me to die and was afraid he would expose the secrete she was White Fang. Raph's attention was taken away from Blake by the feedback of a microphone. Turning to the stage, he saw the school's headmaster professor Ozpin with his right-hand woman Glynda Goodwitch standing beside him.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have travelled here in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you will dedicate your life to protecting the people. But when I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." At this, all the first years start to whisper amongst themselves. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will rove that knowledge can only carry you so far, It is up to you to take the first step." After the headmaster finished talking, he stepped back, and Glynda stepped forward. "You will all gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." At that, Glynda Goodwitch steps back, and the two of them leave the amphitheatre, leaving many of the first years utterly confused.

* * *

Leaving the amphitheatre, Raph met up with the Mcdougal siblings, and after introducing Yang to them, they all explored the school grounds until it was time to go to the ballroom. After entering the room, everyone left to get changed, as there were makeshift change rooms set up for the students. Raphael, on the other hand, walked over to the nearest wall and sat down against it, not taking the chance of anyone seeing his shame. Not staring at anything particular, he sees Ruby come out of the changing room and look around; once she spots her brother, she practically skipped over to him..

"Not going to get changed?" She asks innocently.

"No." Was all Raoh said in response. Dejectedly, Ruby nodes her head and slides herself into the nearest sleeping bag and starts to write a letter. Not long after, Yang comes over and plants herself down next to Ruby.

"It's like a big slumber party!" She says with a smile.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys, though," Ruby stated without looking up from the letter.

"I know I do," Yang purs as she looks at all the shirtless boys, but groans when she sees Jaune in his footie pyjamas waving to her. Looking away from the embarrassment that was Jaune Arc, she notices that Raph was still in the same jeans and hoodie he arrived in. 'You're not going to get changed, are you?" She asked, and all Raph does is shake his head. Sighing, his half-sister stands up and looms over him. "That won't do, we both know you can't sleep with your prosthetics attached, so I'm going to help you!" Before Raph could say anything, Yang was on him, Quickly removing his hoodie and moving on to his shirt.

"As Raph and Yang struggled over whether the shirt stays on or not, Weiss unable to stand the noise any longer stands up and storms over towards the two of them. Just as she reaches their spot, Yang managed to win the struggle and finally removed her half-brother's shirt, exposing his prosthetics and bun marks to anyone who was looking. Upon seeing the burns and metal arms, Weiss' complaints died in her throat, and she let out an involuntary gasp. Out of the corner of his eye, Raph could see the heiress staring at him, and he flashed his half-sister and annoyed look.

"Thanks, Yang, this is precisely what I didn't want to happen," He says forcefully, startling Yang. Realizing that the three siblings were now staring at her, Weiss' restated, and she began yelling at them.

"Will the two of you please refrain from making so much noise! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Without waiting for a response, the heiress turned her back to them and went back to her sleeping bag. Once Weiss was gone, Yang and Ruby looked at each other and laughed, even Raphael was unable to suppress a chuckle. As the three of them laughed, Ruby notices a light off to the side and sees Blake standing against a wall reading. Noticing that her sister was no longer giggling, Yang looked over to see her staring at some strange girl.

"Whatcha staring at, sis?" Yang asked, startling Ruby. Without even looking at her sister, Ruby pointed at Blake.

"That girl saw what happened earlier this morning, and tried to help, but once she saw Raph, she seemed shocked and took off shortly after. I didn't even get to thank her for what she tried to do," Ruby explained. Hearing that her half-brother might know this girl, Yang turns to Raph to try and pry some info out of him, but when she sees the look in his eyes, she quickly realizes that it would be a pointless endeavour.

"Well, nows your chance," Yang says as she grabs both her sibling's arms.

"Wait; what ?" Both of them ask simultaneously. Noticing that someone was approaching her, Blake looks up from her book to see a buxom blonde drag the girl she tried to help earlier and Raphael towards her, and her heart nearly stops.

"Hel-loooo! I believe you know these two?" Yang practically sings as she shoves her two half-siblings forward. Not wanting this to be more awkward than it was, Ruby steps up and sticks her hand out.

"Hi, I'm Ruby. Thanks for helping me this morning." Though the younger Rose thanked her, Blake didn't respond and instead just stared at Raph as he stared back, neither knowing what to say to the other. As the two of them continue to stand, silent and awkwardly, Raph notices Blake's eyes dart all over. For a moment, he thought she was looking for a direction to escape this awkward situation, but he soon remembered that Yang removed his shirt, and the cat Faunus was looking at the burns all over his torso. While the two were awkwardly staring at each other, Yang's mind was running a mile a minute, trying to piece together how her brother knows this girl, and if there was something more. Fortunately or more, unfortunately, in this case, Ruby broke the silence.

"How do you know, Raph?" She asked, and hearing the question Blake tensed up, her reaction going unnoticed by the sisters, but not Raph. Trying to think up a fabricated story, Blake mumbled incomprehensibly for a few moments until she could no longer stand it. In the blink of an eye, Blake disappeared, and in her place was an apparition wth the same likeness as the cat Faunus. After a few seconds, the apparition vanished, leaving the three siblings confused.

"Well, the was rather rude!" Yang said as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Did we do something wrong?" Ruby asked as she looked between her older siblings. Yang just shrugged her shoulders in response to Ruby's question and began walking back to their sleeping bag. Raph stayed behind a little longer and looked around for the cat Faunus, but when he didn't see anything, he let out a sigh before following his sisters.


	3. Assembling The Team

Slowly opening her eyes, Ruby Rose looked up at an unfamiliar ceiling and nearly had a heart attack. The younger Rose calmed down when she remembered yesterday's events and where she was. Letting out a relieved sigh, she sat up and looked around the ballroom that she and the other first-years. Though her first day was a little awkward, the energetic fifteen-year-old had a feeling that today was going to be better; that was until she laid eyes on the form of her older brother slumped against the wall. He had his head turned away from her and was blankly staring at the wall on the opposite side of the room; Ruby could immediately tell that he didn't get much sleep based on the bags under his eyes. Feeling somebody staring at his, Raphael stopped staring at the wall and turned his head to see Ruby staring at him with a concerned expression. Knowing why she was giving him that look, and not wanting to see her worry, the elder Rose flashed his little sister a smile; unfortunately, it had the opposite effect ad made her worry more as she knew he was just trying to look tough. Opening her mouth, Ruby was about to express her concerns to her older brother when a loud yawn at her side startled her. Next to the two of them, Yang sat up with a stretch, absentmindedly emphasizing her bust, which drew the attention of several boys.

"Well, I slept rather well, all things considered, how did you two..." Yang trailed off when she saw the bags un her half-brother's eyes, and the prosthetics still attached to him. Seriously, Raph, after all that struggling to get your shirt off and getting yelled at by the ice queen, you don't even try!" She lectured, all the while Raph did his best to tune out his half-sister as she went on a tangent.

As Yang and Raphael began arguing, Blake watched the two of them from the shadows, wondering if the human had any intentions of telling others that she was ex white fang, and what she could do to stop him if he was. Her mind ran a mile a minute as she came up with ideas, but each one was worse than the other as they each involved bodily harm in some way or the other. _Not that those ideas would even work on him; after what he went through, I'm pretty sure he would be distrustful of any Faunus at this_ point. She thought to herself. _Mabey I could try bribing him to keep quiet, but what would he want? Money, Fame, sex? No, not that last one, even if he wasn't traumatized by what Adam did to him, I doubt he would want to have sex with a Faunus._ Blakes thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone staring at her, looking around the room, she spotted a female wolf Faunus with long dirty blond hair done up in large royal ringlets staring at her. Staring back at the girl, Blake noticed that the look she was receiving was one of anger and hatred, one that she was all too familiar with, and had seen many times before. Though the cat Faunus was used to seeing that look, she mostly saw it from Faunus, who lost their parents to bigotry from humans. Why she was receiving such a look from another Faunus confused Blake. Feeling a little uncomfortable under the wolf Faunus' gaze, she used her semblance and disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

As soon as Yang finished lecturing her half-brother about not getting any sleep, she grabbed Ruby, and the two of them headed towards the changing rooms. Now that it was quiet, Raph leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes and let out a tired sigh.

"For someone who didn't sleep, you seem energetic enough," Sebastian said as he sat down next to the elder Rose. With another sigh, Raphael rubbed his eyes with his palms before looking at the Faunus.

"She never misses a chance to give me shit about my complexes. I honestly don't think she gets it?" Next to the human, Sebastian shrugged his shoulders.

"That's the thing about older sisters, they nag and nag, but they usually have the best intentions when they do so, they just don't always do the best in showing it." Tha Faunus said sagely, which earned him a skeptical look from Raphael.

"That or we just loke to nag and bitch at you," Ophelia proposed before sitting next to her brother. "Though I have to ask. If you don't like to reveal your scars, why did you show us your prosthetics on the airship?" She asked, followed by her brother nodding his head and inquiring as well. With another sigh, Raph absentmindedly scratched the back of his head as he figured out how he wanted to word his explanation.

"Well, given that I designed the pile bunkers with my prosthetics in mind, I can't hide them all the time..." Raph trailed of and absentmindedly scratched at one of his metal arms a nervous tick he somehow managed to keep from before the prosthetics."Plus, Sebastian's excitement reminded me of Ruby, and I've always had a wee bit of trouble saying no to her," He said as she stared off towards the changing rooms with a forlorn look in his eyes.

"Speaking of your sisters," Sebastian suddenly said, changing the subject. "Do you think I have a shot with the blond one?" He nervously asked his human friend, who looked at him with a blank expression. On Sebastian's other side, his sister facepalmed and shook her head in frustration.

"Dude, I know Yang is hot, and everywhere she goes, she turns head, but you barely even know her! Besides, who in their right mind aks the person's younger sibling if they have a shot with them?" The older Rose asked, and immediately Sebastian began to throw out excuses and apologies, but they just came out as incoherent blabber. For about a minute, Raph watched as his friend tried to dig himself out of the hole he thought he was in, and no longer to hold his composure, Raphael burst out laughing. Seeing that his friend wasn't upset at him, Sebastian playfully smacked him on the side of the head, which in turn mad Raph laugh harder.

" You're an asshole; you know that?" Sebastian said with a chuckle. Calming down a little, the elder Rose wiped a tear from his eye and stood up.

"Yes, I know, but in all seriousness, I don't think you'll have any luck with Yang," Raph bluntly stated as he stretched to relieve his stiff muscles. "And no, I don't think it has anything to do with you specifically. While my sister may be a flirt, I have never seen nor heard of her dating anyone. Most likely, she's waiting for MR. Right to come and sweep her off of her feet. Upon hearing this explanation, Sebastian couldn't help but wonder what would make someone right for Yang, and why he couldn't be the one to fulfill those requirements. He was about to ask Raph that very question when their conversation was interrupted by the very person they were talking about.

"What are you guys talking about?" Yang asked as she walked up to the three of them. Not wanting to tell his sister the truth, Raph lied and said that they were discussing what the professors might have in store for them. As soon as the elder Rose finished lying, Sebastian pushed him out of the way and flashed the blond, a suave smile. Though Raphael made it clear that he had little chance with Yang, Sebastian felt that he had to try at the least. Unfortunately for the goat Faunus, he didn't get the opportunity as his sister grabbed him by the ear and dragged him off. Utterly confused, Yang looked to her half-brother for answers, but all Raph did was shrug his shoulders and shake his head.

* * *

Once Ruby was fully dressed, she joined her siblings, and together they left the ballroom and headed towards the locker room where they had their weapons and gear stored. Upon entering the room, Ruby went ballistic and ran around, harassing the other students about their weapons. On the opposite side of the locker room, Sebastian was doing the same thing as, which made the elder Rose think that he would have a better chance with his little sister than Yang, accounting for their somewhat similar personalities.

Opening his locker, Rapheal unzipped and took off his sweater. While under normal circumstances, he would never voluntarily take off his sweater in public; unfortunately, he couldn't effectively use the pile bunkers while wearing it. Instead, he wore a combat vest that was in the same colours as his sweater. Raphael had it specifically tailored to make it easy for him to get at the dust vials he needed for Aries. Once the vest was on, Raph pulled out the briefcase that contained the pile bunkers and opened it, quickly placing the dust vials and extra shells in their proper pouches before placing the pile bunkers on his arms and locking them in place. Just as he finished, a boy with dark hair and a girl with orange hair walked by, having a ridiculous discussion on whether sloths make noises or not, which caused the elder Rose to chuckle.

" I wonder what those two are so worked up about?" Ruby asked, and all Raph could do was shrug his shoulders in response.

" Oh, who knows? So you seem awfully chipper this morning!" Yang said in excitement.

"Yep! No more awkward small talk or getting-to-know-you stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do all the talking," Ruby explained, followed by a happy sigh as she affectionately stroked Crescent Rose.

"You know that working on a team means talking to others, right?" Raphael asked

"Raph's right, if you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people."

"You two sound like dad!" Ruby said with a frustrated sigh and shoved Crescent Rose into her locker. "Okay, first of all: what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? Secondly: I don't need people to help me grow; I drink milk!"

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang asked, and almost immediately, Ruby's indignation cooled, and she became nervous.

"Um, I don't know, I... I'll just be on your or Raph's team or something..."

"Mabey you should be on somebody else's team," Yang said as she stroked her hair.

"My dear sister, Yang, are you implying that you don't want me on your team?" Ruby asked accusingly.

"What? No, of course, I do, I just thought... I don't know; maybe it would help you break out of your shell, right, Raph?" Yang asked her half-brother, who nodded his head in agreement.

"What the-!? I don't need to 'break out of my shell,' that is absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune suddenly said as he walked between the siblings. "There's no way I put my gear in locker six hundred and thirty-six yesterday! I would have remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today? He asked himself before walking off. Once Jaune was out of the way, Yang and Ruby continued their argument, while Raph continued to watch the blond boy as he looked for his equipment. Eventually, he walked past Weiss and a girl with red hair in a long ponytail that seemed vaguely familiar, but no matter how hard he tried, Raphael couldn't place her face.

After a few moments, Jaune noticed whom he walked past and went back immediately, interrupting Weiss' conversation with the other girl. Things rapidly went wrong for the blond boy as the Schnee heiress was having absolutely none of his nonsense. Everything culminated when he got a little to close to Weiss, and after a plea for help from the other girl, who Raph finally recognized as Pyrrha Nikos, resulted in Jaune being stuck and sent flying across the room.

"Would all first-year students please report to the Beacon cliffs for initiation? Again would all first-years report to the Beacon cliffs immediately," Glynda Goodwitch suddenly said over the intercom. The second the message finished, many of the first-years began to file out of the room one by one. Feeling sorry for Jaune, Ruby ran over to help him up, followed by her siblings. 

"Having trouble there, lady killer?" Yang asked as she approached.

" I don't understand? My dad said all women look for confidence, where did I go wrong?" He asked as he accepted Ruby's help.

"You might be laying it on a little thick," Raph said before exiting the room.

* * *

Following the directions of a group of older students, the first-years were led to the Beacon cliffs, where Glynda Goodwitch and professor Ozpin were waiting for them. Neither of the professors said anything; instead, they directed the student's attention to several silver tiles. One by one, the first-years stepped onto the tiles and waited for what was to happen next. While the professors conversed amongst themselves, Raph looked around at the other students and admired the diversity in their combat attire. When his eyes fell on the Mcdougal siblings, he almost did a double-take as their appearance changed drastically. No longer were they wearing the common and atypical street clothes that they wore before, and instead was replaced with fancy and ornate garments of gold and blue that made the two look like nobles from a fantasy series.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be tested in the emerald forest," Ozpin finally said.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to that confusion," Glynda explained to the students, many of whom looked excited, except for Ruby.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," Ozpin said matter of factly. To his side, Raph heard his little sister let out a groan when the headmaster paused to take a sip of his coffee."That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Knowing that Ruby wasn't going to take that news too well, the elder Rose looked at his sister and couldn't help but chuckle at the face she was making. She looked like the world was coming to an end, and appropriately yelled out an overdramatic cry of confusion. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die!" On the other end of the line of students, Jaune laughed nervously before gulping so loud that everybody heard it. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard the item, as well as your standing and grade you appropriately, are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um sir?" Jaune asked as he raised his hand.

"Good, now take your positions," Ozpin said, utterly ignoring Jaune's inquiry. All around the first-years began to strike a variety of poses, all except for Jaune and Raph. The Mcdougal Twins both drew their weapons, with Ophelia getting into a ready stance with the rip of her spear pointing towards the ground; her brother though simply swung his shotgun over his shoulder in a way that he thought made him look cool. To Raphael's left, Yang rose her fists, and to his right, Ruby shuffled her feet to better brace herself. The elder Rose, on the other hand, simply crossed his arms and waited for whatever was going to happen next.

"Uh, sir? I've got um... a question," Jaune said, trying to get the headmaster's attention, and completely missing the fact that Weiss was just springboarded into the air. "So, this landing... strategy thing... uh, wha-what is tit? You like dropping us off or something?"

"No, you will be using your own 'landing strategy,'" Ozpin stated, not even looking in Jaune's direction, focused on watching as student after student is springboarded into the air. When it was finally Yang's turn, she smiled at her siblings before putting her aviators on. A second later, she was flung into the air, yelling out in excitement as she streaked across the sky and out of view. Now it was Raph's turn, and with a simple nod to his sister, he was thrown into the air.

* * *

Raphael whizzed through the air, his momentum propelling his far from the cliffs he started on. While he was never one for the great outdoors, he had to admit that feeling the air whip past his face felt somewhat nice. Soon his speed began to decrease, and he slowly began descending towards the ground. Knowing he didn't have very long, the elder Rose considered a few different landing strategies. After several bad ideas that could only end in pain, he finally decided on the best one to minimize the damage to his body. Though he knew he'd have to dodge a few wayward branches that might threaten to impale him in the remaining eye, Raph waited until he was under the tree line before enacting his plan. Grabbing a random branch, Raphael spun over and under it, with each rotation slowing his momentum until he came to a complete stop. Hanging limply from the tree, the elder Rose let out the breath he was holding and waited for his heart to stop thundering in his chest.

"Well, that went better than I thought," He said aloud to himself. As soon a Raph finished his comment, the branch he was holding onto broke, almost as if the universe itself wanted to prove him wrong. With a sigh, the elder Rose fell towards the ground as the branch separated from the rest of the tree. Landing on his feet, Raph muttered out a few curses and dusted himself off before looking around to see if there was anything that could tell him where to go; unfortunately, there was nothing of the sort, just similar-looking trees. With a shake of his head, Raphael started walking in the direction he thought was correct when he heard a low, threatening growl behind him.

Reacting as fast as possible, the elder Rose spun around and primed one of his pile bunkers, just as a beowolf burst forth from the foliage. Running on complete auto-pilot, Raph didn't attempt to dodge the oncoming threat and instead stood his round to punch the creature of Grimm in the chest. The beowolf raised one of its clawed hands to strike the huntsman in training, but it was already too late for the Grimm as Raphael jabbed his fist and pulled the trigger. A loud metallic bang echoed throughout the forest, and a massive hole was blown into the chest of the beowolf as the metal spike grove into the Grimm, killing it instantly. Still running on auto-pilot, Raph stared at the beowolf's corpse until it dissipated entirely, and only when it was fully gone did he regain his senses.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Raphael yelled, chastising himself for his sloppy work. "Why didn't I doge? It was just a beowolf; I could have killed it without wasting a shot form the pile bunkers!" Frustrated with himself, the elder Rose waled over to the nearest tree and banged his head against the trunk, calling himself an idiot each time he did. While he was banging his head, Raph failed to notice the Ursa that was slowly approaching him. He only noticed that there was any kind of danger when the Grimm read up on its back legs and let out a monstrous roar. Spinning around, Raphael primed the other pile bunker and prepared to dodge the oncoming attack when the head of the Ursa was suddenly blown clean off of its shoulder. Caught a little off guard, Rpa stared at the headless body of the Grimm as it began to dissipate, utterly ignoring the person that approached him from the side.

"You know, not paying attention is what got you into trouble in the first place." A female voice from his left said, bringing Raoh back to reality. Turning to face his saviour, he was greeted by a female wolf Faunus with dirty blond hair done up in large regal ringlets and piercing blue eyes. Hanging over the back of her neck was a massive rifle (ptrs-41) that looked like it was longer than she was tall. Her combat attire was made up of a victorian style dress that had the bottom half replaced by an armoured half skirt. Her arms and legs were also armoured, and the armour on her left arm had a device that looked to be about the same size as one of Raph's pile bunkers. The name's Elizabeth Bennet, what's yours?" She asked while sticking her hand out. Smiling, Raphael shook her hand and introduced himself.

"So, do you know where we need to go?" Raph asked the wolf Faunus, and as soon as he did, her ears drooped.

"I was hoping that you knew," She said in response the question, which earned a sigh from the human.

"Alright, why don't we go this way," Raph said while pointing in a random direction. Given that she didn't know if it was the right way or the wrong one. Elizabeth nodded her head and followed the human as he leads the way.

* * *

"Why do I have to get stuck with you?" Sebastian annoyedly asked as hs passed through a dense thicket that caught on his clothes, making him angrier than he already was. When he landed, the goat Faunus hoped that he would run into Raph, or even better his hot half-sister, not his own sibling. The last thing he wanted was to spend the next four years with his sister on his team, cramping his style; he already dealt with that for most of his life.

"Will you stop complaining so much! You've been bitching about this for the past five minutes straight. Do you think that I like that we're stuck together like always?" Ophelia replied angrily, tired of hearing her brother go on and on about their less than ideal partnership. She also wanted to be partnered with someone other than her brother, and much like him, she wanted to partner up with Raph as he was the only other person that she knew at the academy. Being stuck together was rapidly killing the sibling's enthusiasm, and the two of them slowly made their way through the forest. Their melancholy march through the similar-looking trees came to a sudden halt when a deathstalker burst forth from the tree line and tried to slice them in half with its pincers.

Reacting fast, the Mcdougal siblings dodged out of the way just in the nick of time as the oversized scissor-like claw snapped shut where they just stood a second ago. Following up from their avoidance of the danger, they both bounced off of t tree and began their counterattack. Ophelia pulled her weapon from her back, leaving it in its rifle configuration and fired off several shots that bounced uselessly off of the deathstalker's carapace. Sebastian drew his shotgun and slapped the blade onto it, turning it into the axe. While his sister had it occupied, he rushed past the front of the scorpion and went for the tail; the only problem with that plan was the fact that its tail was flailing around randomly, which made it hard to get a good hit on it. 

"Damn it, Ophelia, stop shotting it so I can hit the tail!" He angrily shouted. Ducking under one of the deathstalker's pincers, Ophelia stared at her brother dumbly.

"Seriously! If I stop shooting, either it kills me, or it turns on you!" She dodged another strike from the Grimm; this time, she rushed forward as the pincer got stuck in a tree and stabbed it in one of its eyes. Jumping back, Ophelia raised her rifle and started shooting again; unfortunately, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and failed to notice the second pincer coming at her from the side. If it weren't for her aura, Ophelia would have been dead as the deathstalker struck her with enough force to turn her bones to dust and sent her flying into a tree.

"You piece of shit!" Sebastian yelled before jumping onto the back of the Grimm. Immediately the deathstalker began to thrash around in an attempt to throw the Faunus off. Before he got thrown into the air, the goat Faunus bent down and jabbed his hand in between the plates of the Grimm's carapace. As soon as he was secure, Sebastian activated his semblance; immediately, he felt his aura move across his body and wrap around the head of his weapon. With a cry of anger, the male Mcdougal brought the blade down on the Grimm's head, easily getting thought its armoured hide; unfortunately, the strike didn't go deep enough to get a killing blow, and the giant scorpion began to flail around in pain.

Feeling like he was riding on a mechanical bull that had no safety features, Sebastian held of for dear life because with his semblance in use, he was left utterly defenceless and getting thrown off would most likely lead to his imminent demise. As Sebastian focused on keeping his grip secure, he failed to pay attention to the tail and was struck as it whipped around. Thankfully it wasn't a purposeful strike, so he wasn't hit hard enough to kill him, but it still hurt like hell and made Sebastian blackout from the pain; in turn, this caused his grip to loosen and get sent flying. Landing across from his sister, Sebastian rolled across the ground until he slammed into a tree, bringing him back to consciousness, though thanks to the pain, he wished that it didn't. Recovering from the huntsman in training's attack, and angrier than ever, the deathstalker turned towards the goat Faunus and charged at him. Believing that he was as good as dead, Sebastian closed his eyes and waited for what was to come next.

The pain he expected never came as a loud bang rang out through the forest, followed by the creature of Grimm crying out in pain. Opening his eyes, the goat Faunus saw that one of the deathstalker's pincers was blown clean off, soon followed by the tip of its tail as it tried to stab him with it. Following the sounds of the bangs, Sebastian saw a wolf Faunus carrying a massive rifle.

"Raphael, now!" She yelled, and a second later, the elder Rose burst out from the treetops and landed on the deathstalker's back. Just as it did when Sebastian was on its back, the Grimm flailed around in a frenzy to throw the human off of it. Thinking fast, Raph grabbed hold of his friend's axe, which was still lodged into the scorpion's head. Knowing that he wasn't going to get thrown off, Raphael primed the pike bunker, and without a word, he pressed it to the Grimm's head and pulled the trigger. The metallic bang of the weapon firing rang out, and bits and pieces of the scorpion's carapace flew in several directions as the metal spike easily pierced right through it. The creature of Grimm's death was so quick that its body hadn't entirely caught up to that fact and continued to flail around for a few moments longer until it finally began to dissipate. With the Grimm dead, Raph jumped off of its back and ran over to where Sebastian was to see if his friend was alright.

"Are you alright?" He asked though he knew the answer to that question just by looking at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little bruised," Sebastian managed to wheeze out. "My sister ain't doing so well though, go and check on her." Turning his attention from Sebastian, Raph ran over to the other side of the clearing and quickly looked over Ophelia. Luckily there didn't seem to be any external damage as her aura absorbed most of the impact, and though there wasn't any way to know if she had internal damage, the fact that her breathing wasn't laboured and she wasn't bleeding from the mouth, Raph had hope that she was okay. Gently patting her cheek, the elder Rose slowly stood her up as the female Mcdougal opened her eyes.

"Oh, hey, Raphael, come to be my knight in shining armour?" She asked in a joking manner when she saw her friend standing in front of her. Patting his friend on the shoulder, Raph slowly and carefully leads her to where her brother was sitting. "Ugh, my whole body hurts. Is the world spinning for anyone else?"

" Yeah, that would happen when you get thrown into a tree by a deathstalker," Sebastian said in a deadpan tone, which earned him a murderous glare from his sister. "By the way, Raph, who's she?" He asked while pointing at Elizabeth. Taking a step forward, the wolf Faunus introduced herself with a curtsy, and though she seemed fine while doing so, Raph noticed a slight stiffness in her movements and a small amount of trepidation in her voice that wasn't there when she told him her name. After her introduction, Sebastian tried to stand up to ask the wolf Faunus about her weapon, but the pain he was feeling prevented him from doing so, so he resigned himself to asking from where he was. Though she was confused, Elizabeth saw no reason to say no and approached the injured huntsman and handed him her rifle, which he happily accepted.

"It's a large calibre, anti-armour rifle that chan change into a halberd," She explained as Sebastian all but salivated over the weapon. She held out her hand to take back her rifle, and once it was back in her hands, she took a few steps back and transformed it into a halberd. The magazine spun around the body of the rifle to form the main blade, followed by the frigger and grip forming into the spike that was used to hook cavalry, and lastly, the stock shifted to form the spear tip completing the transformation. Sebastian held out his hands to take the weapon for inspection again, but he was unable to do so as Raph stopped him. The goat Faunus whined to his friend, but it fell on deaf ears as Raphael simply stared that they had idled here long enough and that they needed to get going. Still wanting to inspect the halberd, Sebastian tried to argue with his friend as he helped him to his feet; unfortunately, Elizabeth transformed the halberd back into a rifle, denying the male Mcdougal what he wanted.

"By the way, do either of you know where north it?" Raph asked the Mcdougal twins.

"Yeah, its this way," Ophelia confidently said while pointing to the north.

"That was a quick response, do you have a compass with you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nah, she doesn't need one, my sister's practically a living compass herself. Not once in my life have I seen or even heard of he getting lost," Sebastian stated with a sigh and shrug of his shoulders.

* * *

Thanks to Ophelia's impeccable sense of direction, the group slowly but steadily made their way through the emerald forest, all the while killing the Grimm that stood in their way. So far, the most numerous of the Grimm were beowolves, and thankfully they didn't run into another deathstalker or king taiju as Sebastian only recovered enough strength to lift and shoot his shotgun. As they continued their trek through the woods, Raph retreated into his head, only coming out long enough to help deal with a creature of Grimm when it showed up. His thoughts were a jumbled mess of what-ifs and speculations about his future as a huntsman. He was worried that he wasn't cut out for such a career, as unlike his little sister, who wanted to be like the heroes in the fairytales she read as a kid, he only did this because his uncle wouldn't shut up about it. One of the worst things about his thoughts being so sporadic was that he had absolutely no control over where they went, and he found himself thinking about things he would rather not remember: like the night Adam attacked him. Damnit, why does my mind constantly wander back to that day? And why does the memory of Blake's face make me want to punch something? He thought to himself while unconsciously gripping one of his prosthetic arms.

Raphael's thoughts were broken when he and his group broke through a set of dense bush and entered into a clearing with what appeared to be the remains of a temple. Standing in the middle of the ruins were Blake and Yang, who, upon hearing them enter the clearing, spun around and instinctively drew their weapons. When the two of them saw that it wasn't a Grimm that snuck up on them, they let out a releived sigh and relaxed.

"Hey Raph, took your sweet time getting here," Yang said with a smug grin, which the elder Rose ignored as he crossed the clearing to stand next to his half-sister. While on most occasions, Raphael would have been a nervous wreck standing next to Blake, especially so thanks to the thing he was thinking about earlier, but today he had a task to complete, and he wasn't going to let that stop him from accomplishing that task. Walking past the cat Faunus, he stepped up to the pedestals with gold and black chess pieces on the, and without hesitation, picked up a black queen. Picking up the other queen as well, Raph was about to toss it to Sebastian when a scream echoing throughout the forest interrupted him. "Some girls in trouble! Did you hear that?" Yang asked as she looked around at the others. "what should we do?" The blond turned her head to look at her partner, hoping that she would know what to do, but instead of saying anything, she was looking up at the sky. "Hey, Blake, did you hear me?" Without answering, Blake simply pointed up at the sky.

"Heads upppp!"


End file.
